James DeGale’s next fight in U.S, says Hearn

By Boxing News - 07/23/2015 - Comments

degale785By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says his fighter IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (21-1, 14 KOs) will be fighting in the United States for his next fight. DeGale. 29, recently signed with American adviser Al Haymon, and the idea is for DeGale to fight in the United States as much as possible from now on. Hearn still believes that DeGale will fight in the UK from time to time, but he’s not certain about that.

“I think James DeGale will fight in the U.S. next,” Hearn said to IFL TV.

I don’t really know if DeGale can become a popular fighter in the United States. For him to become popular, he’s going to have to be willing to fight guys like Andre Ward, the Dirrell brothers, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and maybe Gennady Golovkin.

Unfortunately, I can’t see DeGale fighting those guys. Chavez Jr. has other guys he’s fighting and I don’t think he’s going to bother fighting DeGale. The best bet for getting DeGale some badly needed attention in the U.S is fopr him to fight the Dirrell brothers.

Hearn and Haymon will make decisions on who DeGale will be fighting from this point on. It won’t be just Hearn’s decision.

Hearn mentioned Rogelio Medina and Julius Jackson as two guys that are under consideration for DeGale’s first defense of his title. Jackson is one of the sons of former world champion Julian Jackson. Julius Jackson is a good puncher, but he doesn’t have the knockout power that his famous father had. If he did, I don’t think for a second that Hearn would be mentioning him as a possible option. DeGale vs. Julian Jackson would have been a nightmarish fight for DeGale, because he’s been hurt in a number of his fights. If a guy like Julian Jackson was able to connect with his power shots, DeGale would be severely tested.

Instead of defending his title against one of the contenders, DeGale might wind up waiting around for the outcome of the George Groves vs. Badou Jack fight so that he can have a chance at fighting Groves. That’s the appeal for DeGale. It would be really sad is if Jack wins the fight because then DeGale will have waited for nothing. I think DeGale would be making a mistake in waiting around forever for a fight that might not happen. Given Groves’ recent history of being chinned, I think it’s a bad gamble on DeGale’s part to try and wait round for the outcome of the Groves-Jack fight.



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